Christmas is over. It is time to let it go and move on to the next thing. For the next few days you should just relax and be pleased with how things went for Dec. 25. But then it is time to move on to New Year’s.

Most of what you need to do for New Year’s is to think. You need to think about what you really should try to change or to add or to eliminate. Everybody has something they should give some thoughts to changing. Some people skip resolutions for the new year but try not to. Really give it some thought because maybe you really need to change something. Most people need to change something.

Let me give you a few things I could well consider changing. First, I could make these articles shorter. Does it really take 600 words to get my message across to you?

I could write them earlier so I always wouldn’t being doing them at the last minute. My family would like it if I did that so I wouldn’t have to tell them to give me some time to finish (start) the article that is due this afternoon.

I could make the articles more about messages to me rather than to use my family’s everyday behavior as topics I write about. That wouldn’t be a good resolution for me because then I wouldn’t have anything to write about.

These are just a few of the resolutions I could make but what about you? What do you need to change about how you interact with your children? Are you too strict or are you too much of a pushover? Don’t try to go overboard in resolving to change your behavior. Just modify what you want to be different and see how it feels.

How is your relationship with your partner? Maybe sit down together and talk about the changes you each would like to see in the other before you resolve to do anything really different. Remember, you can’t make a resolution for your partner but you can make a resolution on how you react to your partner’s behavior.

What would you like to change about your daily behavior? Are you reading books like you said you wanted to last year? Is your house as clean as you want it to be or do you find yourself too compulsive and you need to back off? When was the last time you bathed the dog or washed the car? Is there a resolution there? Have you written your friend who moved to another state? Have you saved the money you planned on saving or what can you do about it?

Don’t make it hard on yourself. Look at your current behavior and see how you can tweak it to be a bit better. You can do it more next year if you succeed this year. Keep your resolutions reasonable and ones you can accomplish.

Talk to your children about resolutions. Tell them how to make them and how to keep them. This is a great subject to discuss with them. Actually, this is one of the things we all ought to do more of — talk with our children about important subjects. This is what I mean. Resolutions are all around you.

Just figure out which ones you are going to formally recognize as your goal for the coming year.

And remember — keep it brief.

Cynthia Martin is the founder of the First Teacher program and director of Parenting Matters Foundation, which publishes newsletters for parents, caregivers and grandparents. Reach Martin at pmf@olypen.com or at 681-2250.